Controversial Bitcoin personality Dr. Craig S. Wright has issued a “call to arms” to the community, asking all to fight for “free, open, hard and uncontrolled money”. Wasted time has put Bitcoin at risk, he said — it will fail unless people end the “HODL” mentality of viewing it as an investment asset, and start using it as a cash payment system.

Whitepapers and Patents

Wright said Bitcoin needs 5 billion transactions a day by 2020 and 5 billion users by 2030 to succeed. He also made it clear that he regards BCH (Bitcoin Cash) as the only true Bitcoin, that BTC (“Bitcoin Core”) is an unsustainable altcoin, and that Bitcoin must defeat all other cryptocurrencies to achieve its goals.

In dramatic terms and using his signature direct and sometimes abrasive style, Wright said he would not be the community’s leader but instead a “steward for Bitcoin”.

He has pledged to write at least 10 whitepapers a week, saying he averages 12 and has uploaded 682 already. He and nChain, where he holds the chief scientist position, would patent and implement his ideas as tools to achieve his libertarian financial vision.

Craig Wright

Wright: ‘Far Too Much Time Has Been Squandered’

I write this document knowing that it is our one and only opportunity. Our opportunity as a world, as one people, one race for that is all we are. Far too much time has been squandered already. Many believe that the seed of this idea is out there and that once it takes root, it can never be extinguished. That is in error. If Bitcoin fails, then the idea will never be what it was designed to be. There will never be a free, open, hard and uncontrolled money. Nothing else will replace it. What comes will use the technology, but it will be something else, something monstrous and something that enslaves and not something that frees.

Wright railed against “hodlers” who keep their Bitcoin locked away in the hope it will make them wealthy, calling the strategy “a Ponzi of speculation for pump sake”.

“To HODL is to sit and wait for others, to do nothing but expect a Lambo in the morning. I am sorry, that is not a good strategy. If you want to be rich, you must work,” he said.

Wright was well known in the Bitcoin community before his 2015 outing as creator Satoshi Nakamoto, something he acknowledged in his post. He was eventually unable (or unwilling) to prove the unexpected claims, and attempted to continue his work in private — moves for which he apologized, saying he “could have handled things better”.

Taking a Combative Stance

In words that will no doubt ruffle feathers, Wright accused Bitcoin Core and its backers of adding “cancer” to Bitcoin around the time of the August 2017 hard fork. That fork split the blockchain into BTC and BCH and saw segregated witness (SegWit) implemented and the genesis of off-chain payment layers like Lightning Network. The Bitcoin community has been fiercely divided ever since, with well-known evangelists on both sides.

Not surprisingly, Wright’s announcement drew both praise and jeers on social media:

Inspiring write-up Craig. Embodies the essence of what bitcoin/cryptos should be.

"White paper 682 has just been uploaded and I will have 685 before the end of the weekend."

Awesome. When/where can we find them? Not available currently on nchain website.

Wright pledged he and nChain would “make (Bitcoin) cash. Global universal cash”, enabling the poorest and most desperate people and taking cryptocurrency “into applications and uses that have never been imagined.”

He called for Bitcoiners (miners, entrepreneurs and users) to fight not for him, but with him — competing against him if necessary.

Fight or Be Enslaved

Prominent in the Bitcoin community for years before the Satoshi allegations surfaced, Wright is known for his blunt and confrontational style, anarcho-capitalist views and anti-government stance. He has engaged in a long-running feud with the Australian Tax office in his native country over claimed research tax deductions, and an attempt in 2014 to launch a Bitcoin “bank” named HotwirePE.

If Bitcoiners don’t fight now they will be enslaved by technology rather than freed, he said. He also reiterated that he would continue his work no matter what the community’s opinion of him or resistance to his tactics, concluding with:

“If you want me to explain more… stiff. I am here to make a profit, and I am here to bring a single global monetary system, I am indeed not here to assuage your fears and make the world more comfortable for you.”

Do you agree with Wright’s views on Bitcoin and his proposed solutions? Tell us about it in the comments.

About Jon Southurst

Jon Southurst is a Senior Editor at Bitsonline. He is based mainly in Tokyo, and is interested in the roles Asian economies play in developing cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Follow him on Twitter @southtopia